It has not been an easy two months. There have been a lot of adjustments to be
made. At times (quite frequently, in
fact), I have felt discouraged and overwhelmed.
And then I’m provided tender mercies that remind me how lucky I am, that
remind me that my Heavenly Father is ever-present and ever-mindful of me and my
needs.
Sunday was our chance to watch General Conference. It was SO wonderful and comforting to
experience the familiarity of General Conference, to feel the love of our church
leaders and Lord, and to hear the wise counsel that they always provide. Over here, they only show two sessions (how
they choose which ones to show, I’m not sure).
I was so grateful that one of the ones they chose happened to be the one
with Elder Whiting speaking. I was
overcome to the point of tears when I saw and heard this man who I knew so
well, whose words I always loved to hear.
The Spirit that I felt on Sunday, that I haven’t felt in so long, was a
tender mercy in the purest form.
The next day, Monday, Terry and I had to go back to the
Ghana Immigration Office to extend my visa (we tried to get a residence permit
a few weeks ago, but were told that we couldn’t get one until we had been
married for a year. They said this is to
prevent “marriages of convenience” from
taking place, which Terry thought was very funny…haha = ) We decided to go to the American Embassy at
the same time to ask questions about the visa process. It took us about two hours, riding in a
rickety, dirty tro-tro and walking under the scorching sun, to finally get to
the Embassy. After going through the
intense security and waiting in a queue, I was finally called up to the
counter. The woman didn’t even let me
get a full sentence out, stating that they did not take visa inquiries and that
I had to email them. When I started to
explain that I had tried to email, but that the response was just to check
their website, she again cut me off and said that they would not take phone
calls, appointments, or walk-ins, so I just had to try again. I was livid.
We then walked to the Ghana Immigration Office, where they were kind and
tried to be helpful, but where we found out that I can’t stay in Ghana for longer
than 6 months. Since I’ve already been
here for two, they gave me a three month extension, and told me to come back in
three months to see if I can extend the final month a little bit. Again, we were feeling discouraged, but I
actually went to bed that night with such a peaceful feeling. I knew that God is aware of our desires as
we’ve shared them with Him through prayers, and that we’ll look back on these
events with understanding one day.
Yesterday, we were coming to the police barrier/toll booth
that we pass through each day (it separates the Accra Region where we work from
the Eastern Region where we live) when we realized we didn’t have Terry’s
driver’s license. Now, in order to
understand why this was such a big problem, I have to give you some background
information, because the reason is different than why we’d be worried in
America.
Ghana is a country of bribes, and the police are a perfect
example of the system at work. When we
would drive through the barrier when we first got married, we were stopped
quite frequently because they saw a white person and thought, “Money!!” The first couple of times I was really scared
because the officers were mean and gruff.
The pattern was always the same.
They’d tell us to pull over, Terry would get out to “talk” to them with
a cedi or two (which is 50 cents to a dollar) to pay them off, he’d be gone for
a long time, I’d get worried about what was happening, and then he’d come back
to the car 10-15 minutes later with a new friend. The meanest officer even gave Terry his phone
number and name so that Terry could call him if we were stopped again. Now, he’s friends with most of them, so we’re
rarely stopped anymore. But we still
have to be cautious every time we go through.
We turn the music down, I roll my window partway up, he takes off his
sunglasses, in the mornings, when I read scriptures on the Kindle, I hide it,
and basically, do anything to make ourselves look poor and invisible. And it still happens that we’re occasionally
pulled over, especially when there’s an easy reason for us to be stopped, like
our car is dirty (yeah, in Ghana, where everything gets covered in a layer of dirt/dust in a
matter of minutes, a dirty car is considered an offense – so Terry has to wipe
down our car each morning and evening). Now,
he just hands his license over, with 1 cedi under it, and we’re on our
way. So, not having his license, which
is the method of cash delivery, is a big problem. And our car was filthy. And we were so nervous. We drove up to the barrier, and for the first
time ever, the officers were turned the other way and didn’t even look when we
went by. Talk about a tender mercy! I don’t know how much they would’ve taken if
we’d been pulled over and he didn’t have his license, and since we’ve budgeted
down to the pesewa, I don’t know where the extra money would’ve come from.
Last night I had another breakdown. I was just feeling so overwhelmed because we
don’t even have enough time to take care of our daily needs (getting water,
food shopping, cooking, cleaning, washing, planning and assignments for work,
exercising), so I don’t know how we’ll find the time to plan and prepare for
our future. My sweet husband pried the
information out of me when he saw I was feeling upset, listened patiently to
me, comforted me, made me laugh, prayed with me, and planned with me. Tender mercy #1. And the second same today, when I was still
feeling a bit homesick, and saw messages and posts from so many friends and
loved ones. One was a random thank you
for an act I’d done 15 years ago, another a high-five on a success that one of
my former students had, one was a random thought reminding me that I had been
in many people’s prayers, another was a helpful email with a lot of useful
information for Terry and my future planning, another a sweet check-up on
me…and the list went on. They couldn’t
have come at a more perfect time, each message meaning so much to me. God knew just what I’d need and when I’d need
it, and I’m grateful for the angels that he’s placed in my life to act as his
hands of love and service.
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